The Wall of Promise

After last’s week’s surprise mention of The Gargoyle in the email newsletter, The Week At Duke (many thanks to Gargoyle contributor Stuart Wells and everyone else over there in the Office of News and Communications), we’ve had a steady stream of Gothic customers coming by to check out our new look. Response has been good, I’m glad to say, and it’s been gratifying to watch people cross the threshold and head straight for the New Arrivals section.

(WARNING: Timely Book/Democracy Analogy Ahead!)

Even for those of us who have worked in books for, well, decades, a wall full of new books holds an amazing allure. You learn after a while that a good percentage of all books published each month are going to be junk. There’s no way around that. Corporate booksellers and publishing conglomerates have partnered up in such a way that pushing a lot of garbage out the door and onto the shelves in the hope of big profits is simply too attractive. And while we here at the Gothic try to be discriminating in our ordering, we’re probably going to get a few dogs on the shelf once in a while, too. (We’ll do our best to sell you exclusively Really Good Stuff, though. Honest.) But when any of us opens a box of brand-spanking-new books, we get a little light-headed. Because before any of the books are cracked, before one delves into a book and assesses its quality for himself, the promise of a fantastic read is intact, seductive, and undeniably enjoyable.

I can’t deny having the same feeling today, the day before the inauguration of our 44th president. There’s a tangible promise in the air, a promise of –as we’ve heard almost ad nauseum—change. Now, I hope I’m not stepping out of bounds here on The Gargoyle by saying that I count myself among those who look forward eagerly to experiencing life under the new administration. I’ve believed in Obama starting with his very first appearance on the national stage. I’m not, however, naïve. I know that reality tends to wreak havoc on aspirations. I know that the nation will experience some disappointments and setbacks as those who have as their goal the betterment of the nation make difficult and pragmatic decisions. Tomorrow, we move from the Realm of Hope into the Realm of How-It-Is.

But from this vantage point, all is promise. All is good. All that follows will be that for which millions have yearned over these months, years, decades.

In a (much) smaller way, that’s what we hope our customers feel when upon entering The Gothic the first thing they see is a big wall of brand-new and as yet unread books: a promise of discovery, of adventure, of many great reads to come.